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A vision of healing A Florida woman�s painting of the Sept. 11 attack helps her grieve for the friends she lost and shows the resilience of seniors in times of catastrophe By PAT LEISNER The Associated Press SUN CITY, Fla. � Virginia Laudano poured out her grief on canvas, transforming the ashes of the World Trade Center into an oil painting. It delivers a powerful message of hope. "That is what Christmas and life are all about," says the 65-year-old former teacher, who lost a neighbor and six former students in the Sept. 11 attack. She was so traumatized she couldn�t sleep until she finished the untitled work. Laudano worked in her garage, sometimes until midnight. She spent nearly three weeks sketching at night and painting by day. "I would wake up with nightmares. There was overwhelming sadness," she says. "Now that it�s done I feel a sense of relief. It was a healing." Resiliency is a hallmark of senior citizens. "It is a major characteristic of older people who are survivors," says Donna Cohen, a University of South Florida professor and a specialist in aging and mental health. Seniors are adaptable. They have a composure that comes through knowledge and an ability to integrate experiences. "It�s a magnificent example of the resource of an older society," says Cohen. "I think we�ll see fewer suicides and less depression among the elderly this holiday season." The war in Afghanistan has triggered World War II flashbacks for some retirees. It has fostered a drive for unity and cohesiveness among Americans, young and old. It has made people slow down and be more caring toward one another. Tragedy has strengthened family ties. "I�m hearing from my children much more than in the past," says 72-year-old John Crowther, a grandfather. He has four children. "They want to get together more, even though they live up North." Crowther teaches computer classes to other retirees at Sun City, a community of more than 16,000 seniors about 25 miles south of Tampa. Joan Clouse, 70, who splits her time in Florida and Chautauqua, N.Y., agrees. "Families want to be together more, especially now. The attacks, terrorism and scare tactics hit everybody, but I�m not going to let them get the best of me," says the retired seventh-grade teacher. When her children and grandchildren come to spend the holidays with their parents in Sun City, there will be eight people in a two-bedroom condo. Florence George grew up in New York traumatized by an image of a B-25 bomber that slammed into the Empire State Building in 1945. She remembers looking out the window of the family�s sixth-floor apartment in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, seeing the 102-story New York City landmark, which had a plane�s fuselage sticking out from the 79th floor. She was just 11 and lived a mile from LaGuardia Airport. When the planes flew low, her mother would find her under her bed. She was trying to get away from them. "When I saw the World Trade Center attack on television it brought it all back," says George, 71, a retired high school health teacher. Mental health counselors say experience and coping skills helped seniors deal with the shock, pick up the pieces and move on. "It�s the resilience of later life," says Cohen. "The middle-aged want to ratchet up the antidepressants. The young find the attack, the bioterrorism and the war incomprehensible. They don�t know how to handle it." For the frail and the vulnerable, those inclined to suffer mental health disorders or recurring episodes of panic or depression, problems remain. Psychiatrist Kathleen McCarty was besieged with phone calls from people in their 20s and 30s in the weeks following the attacks. "They were having trouble sleeping, trouble being around crowds. They heard planes and thought something bad was happening. They thought they were abnormal and wanted magic words or pills to make them better." McCarty said most didn�t realize what they were going through was normal. Their sense of safety was destroyed. They were experiencing the fragility, vulnerability and insecurity of life. She wanted to see them if the symptoms of depression didn�t subside. "For young people, it was the worst event of their lives," McCarty says. The 70- and 80-year-olds were better able to take the events in stride. "They looked at it as, �There�s a lot of evil in the world and we�re getting another dose of it,� " she says. Laudano says the horrific event made her realize how precious life is. Six graduates from a Catholic high school in Holmdel, N.J., where she had taught art died in the trade center collapse. It was nearly two days before she learned one of her closest friends who worked up on an upper floor was safe. A former neighbor didn�t make it out of the building. Days later, Laudano was inspired by a vision that came to her during a prayer meeting. She started painting immediately. The 28-by-36-inch oil depicts the World Trade Center attack. There�s a skeleton of one of the towers on the right side. It resembles a Gothic Church. Clouds of smoke swirl toward the blue sky. Angels descend from heaven through the smoke and fiery ruins on the left side of the canvas and rise through the bright light on the right side. One angel carries the remains of a firefighter. Centered in a patch of blue sky is a dove � the symbol of the Holy Spirit � with rays radiating outward. "It symbolizes the presence of God pouring out his grace, comfort and hope over us all," the artist says. "The angels came down and took these people; their spirits are with God," says Laudano. "Out of all this devastation is hope." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.